INterpolated FLOod Surface (INFLOS), a Rapid and Operational Tool to Estimate Flood Depths from Earth Observation Data for Emergency Management

Overview & Synopsis

The INterpolated FLOod Surface (INFLOS) tool was developed to meet the operational needs of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) Rapid Mapping (RM) component, which delivers critical crisis information within hours during and after disasters. With increasing demand for accurate and real-time flood depth estimates, INF-LOS provides a rapid, adaptable solution for estimating floodwater depth across diverse flood scenarios, using remotely sensed data and high-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTMs). INFLOS calculates flood depth by interpolating water surface elevation from sample points along flooded area boundaries, derived from satellite imagery. This tool is capable of delivering flood depth estimates in a rapid mapping context, leveraging a multistep interpolation and filtering process for improved accuracy. Tested across fourteen regions in Europe and South America, INFLOS has been successfully integrated into CEMS RM operations. The tool's computational optimisations further enhance efficiency, improving computation times by up to 15-fold, compared to similar techniques. Indeed, it is able to process areas of up to 6000 ha in a median time of 5.2 min, and up to 30 min at most. In conclusion, INFLOS is currently operational and consistently generates flood depth products quickly, supporting real-time emergency management and reinforcing the CEMS RM portfolio.